Kevin Smith is done with distributors and soon he'll be done, period.
Smith took the stage following his Sundance premiere of Red State for his much talked about auction of the distribution rights then won the thing himself, paying himself twenty bucks and saying "What we need to prove is that anyone can release a movie." He plans to take the film on the road personally for a fifteen city tour before booking theatrical exhibitions himself in October, spending zero marketing dollars in the process.
Can this work? Yes, it can and has been tried many, many times before to varying degrees of success.
Don Coscarelli proved that you can make money this way with Bubba Ho-Tep, taking that film on a very successful, personally overseen, road trip. Darren Bouseman did the same thing with Repo: The Genetic Opera when Lionsgate abandoned his baby. Lots of other films, mostly ones you've never heard of, have tried this and failed in recent years.
Will this prove, as Smith states, that 'anyone can release a movie'? Not at all. It proves that people with a pre-existing and very large following can release a movie provided that they are willing to spend an extended period of time on the road with it using their own celebrity as a substitute for traditional marketing dollars. It's a smart decision for Smith given the size of his fanbase and the general way he is viewed in the mainstream industry post-Cop Out but hardly a game changer in any way.
Further, Smith re-stated on stage that Red State is his second to last film as a director and that once he is finished with his hockey comedy Hit Somebody he is done and out.
Smith took the stage following his Sundance premiere of Red State for his much talked about auction of the distribution rights then won the thing himself, paying himself twenty bucks and saying "What we need to prove is that anyone can release a movie." He plans to take the film on the road personally for a fifteen city tour before booking theatrical exhibitions himself in October, spending zero marketing dollars in the process.
Can this work? Yes, it can and has been tried many, many times before to varying degrees of success.
Don Coscarelli proved that you can make money this way with Bubba Ho-Tep, taking that film on a very successful, personally overseen, road trip. Darren Bouseman did the same thing with Repo: The Genetic Opera when Lionsgate abandoned his baby. Lots of other films, mostly ones you've never heard of, have tried this and failed in recent years.
Will this prove, as Smith states, that 'anyone can release a movie'? Not at all. It proves that people with a pre-existing and very large following can release a movie provided that they are willing to spend an extended period of time on the road with it using their own celebrity as a substitute for traditional marketing dollars. It's a smart decision for Smith given the size of his fanbase and the general way he is viewed in the mainstream industry post-Cop Out but hardly a game changer in any way.
Further, Smith re-stated on stage that Red State is his second to last film as a director and that once he is finished with his hockey comedy Hit Somebody he is done and out.
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Interesting tact, but is it any good?
Why the hell are u knocking smiths bold and couragous move like this? I m grateful he has decided to take quite an explorative and risky route to prove u can distribute ur film under ur terms without sucking up to any studio or distributer. Its great there are a few good people doing this because they have a passion and dealing with the real problems at hand such as the failing distribution models and digital piracy instead of mindlessly following fake solutions such as the dumb gimmicky trend of 3D movies. I ve always respected twitchfilm but this post is shallow and doesnt seem to understand the gravitas of smiths thinking.
Knocking it by saying it's a smart move for him?
I think you misread or didn't read Todd's article @thecounteroutfit...
I guess I neglected to mention that beams of sunlight shine from Smith's ass every morning. My mistake.
If he comes to Holland i'd be the first in line! Any plans or is this tour US only?
Paul
The counteroutfit's reply to his 'reading' of the article gave me a good laugh.
Smith's decision is an interesting move, but I'm not a fan of seeing a film for 70$ (even if they throw in a Q&A which Smith usually charges 50+ for) because I've seen tons of Q&A's for films that have been touring for usually less then 15. Still, even if I'm personally averse to the act of going to see the film, I whole heartedly agree his decision of separating himself from the studio distribution system - even if he went about it in a bit of difficult way.
"Smith took the stage following his Sundance premiere of Red State for his much talked about auction of the distribution rights then won the thing himself, paying himself twenty bucks"
I'm confused -- did the auction actually take place and no one bid more than $20?